Miner Muffins

After her birthday, Kate was enamoured with the Princess cookbook from Philip (and whenever she finds it these days, she is again!). Pretty soon after the Abu Bread, we made Miners Muffins. 

The original recipe is for mini muffins and is regular flour.  We modified these to make regular sized muffins and used gluten free flour.  Kate was pretty excited! 

We did this without a mixer, so she got to stir. 

Then, I let her try out the muffin dispenser.  She is quite the little baker. 

These turned out pretty good.  I think I'd like to try them mini at some time.

Miners' Mini Muffins
1 cup GF flour (or regular)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk (or buttermilk or almond milk)
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 375.  Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.  In another bowl, whisk together egg, milk and butter.  Stir the flour into the butter mixture.  When it is all "just wet" fold in the blueberries.  Spoon into prepared muffin pan (mini or regular).  Put the pan into the oven and allow to bake for 12 (mini) or 15-17 minutes (regular).  It is ready when a toothpick comes out clean.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.  Remove from pan and enjoy!

Abu Bread

After our family reunion, we returned to our NEW house!  It was quite the experience moving while pregnant.  I really wanted to help but couldn't do much.  I even pulled a muscle when loading the car with hanging clothes.  Of course, we began cooking right away.

 Kate wanted to make a recipe from her Princess cookbook that my brother picked out for her.

 One of the first recipes we made was "Abu Bread."  Take a wild guess as to what this is.....yes! Monkey bread!  It turned out really good.  It was actually making dough for the bread portion.  I'm used to the monkey bread that uses biscuit dough, so this was a little different but was good.  This is really a great recipe to make with the littles.

 They can be really helpful rolling the dough in the cinnamon sugar and throwing the dough balls into the pan. 

Kate has been asking for a Jasmine birthday party and I haven't decided if we will use Abu bread or not! 

Abu's Monkey Bread
3 cups flour (substitute GF baking mix if gluten free)
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup cold butter
1 1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
6 Tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 375.  Stir together flour, baking powder and salt.  Cut in butter with knife or pastry knife.  Then use your hands to "pinch" the butter in until the size of peas.  Stir in the milk.  Turn onto a flat surface and knead for five minutes.  Tear off small round pieces of dough - at least 3 dozen.

Melt butter.  Mix sugars and cinnamon together.  Dip eat ball into butter, then dip into sugar mixture. Place the balls into a pre-greased bundt/tube pan until the pan is full.  Place the pan into over and bake for 25 minutes.  Remove pan from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes.  Hold a plate over the open side of pan and rotate the two so that the bread comes out onto the plate.  Enjoy!

Gluten Free Powdered Sugar Do-Nuts

In addition to having desserts for David, he likes to eat second breakfast.  So, I try to make him fun things.  I like to make egg muffins because they are a little healthier; but, he had been missing donuts - specifically powdered donuts.  So, I found this recipe and made some baked, powdered donuts. 

David said they turned out pretty well.  They aren't the same as the store bought version. Somehow, I can't ever get the powdered sugar to be quite "powdered" once it is on the donuts.  Oh, well.  They do best if eaten soon as the sugar kind of dissolves and evaporates...but they still taste good after that.

Gluten Free Powdered Sugar Donuts from Em the Baker
Ingredients:
¼ cup butter, melted
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
½ cup milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk.)
1 ¼ cups all purpose gluten free flour
½ cup sugar
1 ¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg

For coating:
¼ cup melted butter
¾ cup powdered sugar

Directions:
  Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a mini muffin pan or donut pan. Whisk all dry ingredients together. Whisk all wet ingredients together. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and whisk well to combine.
Spoon batter into tin, filling ⅔ full.  Bake 10-12 minutes until edges are just starting to brown and centers are set.  Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
 

For coating: In a small bowl, melt butter. In another bowl, pour powdered sugar. Dunk the donut holes in the butter, coating well. Remove and place into the powdered sugar bowl and coat very well.
Place covered donut holes on wire rack to finish cooling.

Cinnamon Roll Cake

Our Sunday School class typically has breakfast during the class.  Most often, it is not gluten free.  So, whenever I sign up, I take something David can eat.

I will also, sometimes, take something on days when I don't sign up.  Hey!  Any excuse to bake...though that has slowed down a LOT over the last 3 months.  Hopefully, I'll be able to do more as Caleb gets older.  Anyway, I made this cinnamon roll cake back in May.  It was really good and reminded me of a recipe that my mom has made a few times.

Cinnamon Roll Cake from USA Silly Yaks
Cake:
3 c. Gluten Free Flour Mix
1/2 tsp. Xanthan Gum
1/4 tsp.salt
1 c. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 c. milk
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. butter, melted

Cinnamon Swirl:
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar
2 T. Gluten Free Flour Mix
1 T. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix everything together except for the butter. Slowly stir in the melted butter. and pour into a greased 9x13 pan.

For the cinnamon swirl, mix all the ingredients together until well combined. Drop evenly over the batter and swirl with a knife. Place pan in oven and bake at 350 for 28-32 minutes.

Glaze:
2 c. powdered sugar
5 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix together and pour over cake while still warm.  Enjoy!

Gluten Free Waffles (Great to send for school lunches!)

A few weekends ago, I made waffles for Kate's breakfast.  This was quite a feat as she likes to eat first thing.  I think it helped that she came in as I was feeding Caleb and COULDN'T get her food.  So, then, when I was done, I just walked out to the kitchen and started making waffles.  Now she HAD to wait!  I like sending breakfast for her school lunch about once a week to change things up and waffles are great for that (as are muffins, leftover scrambled eggs, boiled eggs....lots of stuff!). 

Anyway, I made her waffles regular but we have used a few recipes of gluten free waffles.  Back in April, I made this recipe (at least I think it was this recipe!) because I wanted to use a combo of flours rather than an all purpose mix.  Sometimes, it's fun to make your own mix.  They turned out well.  I did add in some cinnamon for added flavor.  David liked them and was able to take the left overs to work for "second breakfast."  Yes, I have hobbit feet and he eats like a hobbit.  Ha!

Gluten Free Waffles adapted from Cooking with Alison
1 1/4 cup rice flour (you can use brown rice flour if you want more fiber)
1/2 cup potato starch (this is Not the same thing as potato flour)
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (or use 1 1/2 cups of milk alternative and 1 tbsp lemon juice)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp honey, maple syrup, or granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients. Mix with a fork until you have a smooth batter.  Note that the batter will be thinner than most other waffle recipes.  Use cooking spray to lightly grease your waffle maker and heat it as per your waffle maker’s instructions. Spoon batter onto waffle maker and close, cooking per your maker's instructions (mine has a lovely little light that indicates a finished waffled).  Remove and allow waffle iron to reheat before cooking more.  Enjoy!

 

Toast from Grammy's

Kate spent spring break with David's family.  She came home with a "recipe" for brown sugar cinnamon toast.  She thought it was the best thing in the world.  I must say that I'm not shocked that she loved it.  I mean, seriously...who WOULDN'T!?!?!?  Toasted brown sugar? Um, yes, please!  So, one Sunday night her supper was brown sugar cinnamon toast with scrambled egg and fruit.  (Sweet supper prayers!)

I will be honest and say that I didn't follow the "recipe" but I'm pretty sure it was close to the same.  And, really, who can recreate Grammy's toast anyway!?  :-)  You could probably do this several different ways - mix the butter and sugar together, mix the sugar and cinnamon together, etc - but this is how I did it.  Kate seemed to approve.

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Toast
bread
butter/margarine
brown sugar
cinnamon

Spread butter/margarine on a slice of bread and sprinkle with brown sugar.  Be sure to put enough and to "pack" it down.  Then sprinkle this with cinnamon.  Place in toaster oven (or oven).  No, a traditional toaster will NOT work!  Toast and enjoy!

Pop Tarts - Gluten Free

Honestly, I'm really surprised that there hasn't been a gluten free pop tart to make an appearance yet.  I can't say that we would be frequent buyers, but I probably would get them occasionally as a treat for David. I think that's one of the things he misses the most - Le Sigh!

To me, the hardest thing it going out to eat but I think he misses the snacks the most.  This is probably a good thing, except for the fact that I make him stuff all the time and send it with him.  Anyway, one week, I decided to surprise him and make poptarts.

He really enjoyed them.  I was a bit frustrated with them because I missed my timer and left them in longer than needed; which means that the jam started cooking out of the pastry.  Oh well!  He still liked them and everyone was impressed that he had homemade pop tarts for breakfast as work!  :-)  Guess I should make these again sometime.

Gluten Free Pop-Tarts from Desserts with Benefits

Ingredients

160g (1+1/3 cup) Oat Flour (plus ~1/2 cup for rolling)

160g (1 cup) Brown Rice Flour

3/4 tsp Salt
168g (~3/4 cup) Non-Hydrogenated Vegetable Shortening*, soft (Earth Balance or Spectrum Organics)
 1/4 cup sugar

Filling:
Jam or fruit spread

Icing:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tbs Unsweetened Almond Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract (Do not use if you want it to be white!)

Instructions

For the Dough:
In a large bowl, whisk together the oat flour, brown rice flour and salt. Dump the shortening into the center of the bowl. Fold together until a dough forms (the dough should be too dry or too moist, you should able to form it into a ball without it sticking to the bowl).  Knead this dough then flatten into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for an hour. When ready, preheat oven to 350.
Break off 1/4 of the dough disc (put the rest back in the fridge).  Place some wax paper, parchment or dough cloth on the counter and dust with some oat flour.  Roll to 1/8" thickness. Use a pizza cutter to cut into rectangles.  Then use a thin/sharp pie server to transfer rectangles to the prepared baking sheet. Add the fruit spread to the dough rectangles, leaving 1/4-1/2" border, then top with another dough rectangle.  Press on the edges with your fingers or fork (I like a fork) to seal the pop tart and use a toothpick to poke holes into the surface (you can kind of see the holes in the post photos). When you have used all the dough, place the pan into the oven and bake for ~12-16 minutes or until the edges have browned slightly.  
Make icing by mixing all ingredients.  When the poptarts have cooled, drizzle on.  Enjoy!

Notes

*She states that you can probably use 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce in place of 1/4 cup of the shortening if you want a lower fat recipe. She has apparently had success previously just not when used for the Pop Tart.

Almonds Make Caramel Healthy, Right!?

This was one of the first cakes I tried gluten free and I was REALLY excited about it because it used almond flour.  Plus, it was caramel!  I took it to Sunday school and then to work.  I'm pretty sure everyone liked it...though I'm not sure about David.  He really is more of a chocolate person.  We're really pretty much opposite in what we like food-wise, except that we both really like fish.  Crazy! 

Anyway, this is a great cake for anyone.  It does have a nutty texture since it's made from almond meal, but it's not distracting.  I actually modified this a good bit, now that I look back at the recipe.  It calls for "Swerve" sweetener, which I have never even heard of.  I honestly can't remember if I used Splenda or regular sugar, but either would work.  I also didn't make my own caramel sauce.  I cheated!!  I used caramel ice cream topping.  Worked pretty well if you ask me.  :-)  I also added a basic glaze to make it "pretty."  Try it out - even if you're not gluten free. 

Caramel Pecan Coffee Cake adapted from All Day I Dream About Food (original recipe with link)

Cake:
3 cups almond flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar or Splenda
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325F and grease a bundt pan well (this could also be made in a 9-inch springform pan).  In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.  In a large bowl, beat butter until smooth. Add sugar/sweetener and beat until lighter and well-combined, about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs, scraping down beaters and sides of bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Beat in vanilla extract.  Beat in half of the almond flour mixture, then beat in almond milk. Beat in remaining almond flour mixture until well combined.  
 
Spread half the mixture in the prepared pan and use the back of a spoon to create a channel in the center of the batter, all the way around the bundt pan.  Pour some caramel sauce into the channel.  Sprinkle with 1/4 cup pecans. Top with remaining batter and spread evenly with offset spatula to cover caramel and pecans. Place the pan into the preheated oven and bake 35 to 45 minutes, or until cake is golden brown and just firm to the touch. A tester inserted in the center should come out clean (except for some caramel sauce!). Remove and let cool 10 minutes (IT MUST cool!) then flip out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Drizzle with remaining caramel and pecans.  Enjoy!

Manly Pancakes

Ever since David decided to do an essentially gluten free diet, he has told me that he wanted to try buckwheat pancakes.  He thought they sounded "manly!"  Well, try as I might, I couldn't find buckwheat flour.  Sure, I found buckwheat pancake mix...but it wasn't gluten free.  Then, we had a Whole Foods open.  I finally made it by and found the buckwheat flour...which IS gluten free.  Then I had to go in search of a recipe.  I was originally going to use this one.  However, some of the ingredients seemed a bit "further" than I wanted to go. So, I ended up just modifying my dad's recipe.  It turned out pretty good!  You definitely need to refrigerate any leftovers.  The color is a bit shocking, but the taste is pretty good.  Only a mild change in flavor from regular flour, in my opinion.  And most importantly, David liked them.  We've had them one other time since.

Buckwheat Pancakes
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon oil
vanilla

Place griddle on medium heat and heat pan until a drop of water sizzles.  In a bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.  In another bowl, whisk egg, buttermilk (or regular if preferred), oil and vanilla (I do about 1 tsp).  Then add the liquid ingredients to the dry and stir with a fork until incorporated.  If it is too thick, add some (regular or almond) milk to thin it out.  Using a 1/4-1/3 cup measure, pour batter onto hot griddle.  Allow to cook until bubbles come to the top and break, then flip.  Cook until done (not long!).  Enjoy!

Chocolate Donuts

We have a new donut shop in our town.  I haven't tried it yet but someone mentioned the blueberry cake donuts and now I really want one!  I think that is one of the things that David has missed being (essentially) gluten free - donuts, especially powdered sugar ones.  I did recently make some of those for him but way back in February I found a chocolate version.

K and I made them one night.  She enjoyed the facts that we were making donuts and David enjoyed the donuts. 

They were fairly easy.  The biggest problem I have with making homemade donuts is that I haven't figured out how to get the icing to work right.  I guess I just need to specifically find a "donut icing" recipe.  It just tends to be good the first little bit and then disappears over a day or so.  All in all, these were good and David enjoyed them for his "second breakfast" that week.

Gluten Free Chocolate Baked Donuts from Serious Eats

• 3/4 cup (2 1/2 ounces) gluten-free oat flour
• 1/2 cup (4 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup (1 1/4 ounces) potato starch or tapioca starch
• 1/4 cup (3/4 ounce) cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 6 tablespoons yogurt
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• nonstick cooking spray
•  
• For the Glaze
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 6 tablespoons whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract, optional

Procedures

Preheat oven to 375°F. Whisk together oat flour, granulated sugar, potato starch, cocoa powder, baking soda, and xanthan gum in a medium bowl. Add egg, yogurt, milk, and vegetable oil. Whisk until batter is smooth. Allow batter to stand for five minutes. Lightly coat donut pan with nonstick cooking spray. Fill cavities about halfway with batter. Place the pans in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes or until the donuts spring back to touch.  Turn them onto a cooling rack and cool completely
 Whisk together powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and lemon extract in small bowl. Dip doughnuts, one at a time, into glaze. Shake off excess glaze. Place dipped doughnuts onto wire rack. Enjoy!!

Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls

Last month, the Daring Bakers challenge was for cinnamon rolls.  I knew that David would be super excited about it as soon as I saw it.  What a great opportunity to "have" to try a gluten free cinnamon roll recipe.  

Now, I know I am late posting this; but, we have been moving and had a bit of trouble getting internet set u and reliable.  So, I'm posting now...about two weeks late!   Soooo....This month the Daring Bakers kept our creativity rolling with cinnamon bun inspired treats. Shelley from C Mom Cook dared us to create our own dough and fill it with any filling we wanted to craft tasty rolled treats, cinnamon not required!

 

These actually turned out really good.  They were much better when heated.  David liked taking them for his "second breakfast" at work.  He said that warming it made the microwave made the icing run off some.  I guess one way to avoid this would be to reapply icing after you heat the cinnamon rolls if you don't eat them all at the first sitting.  I did make smaller rolls than the recipe instructed, so they lasted for more days.  The dough wasn't too difficult to work with but it did break a little bit when rolled.  All in all, I'd say it was a pretty good recipe and was quick.  If you need to make gluten free treats, try this one out!

 

Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls from Recreating Happiness

Ingredients

DOUGH:

• ⅔ cup milk
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 packet yeast
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup (83 g) potato starch
• ½ cup (80 g) brown rice flour
• ¼ cup (29 g) finely ground almond flour
• ¼ cup (34 g) tapioca starch plus more for flouring your surface
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1½ teaspoon xanthan gum
• 2½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• good quality plastic wrap for rolling out (and up!) the dough

FILLING:

• ⅓ cup butter, softened
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon

*FROSTING:

• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
• ¾ cup powdered sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• dash of salt

*I just made a simple icing with no cream cheese but this would be good.

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour a pie plate.

DOUGH:

Combine yeast and sugar in large mixing bowl.  Microwave milk and 1 tablespoon butter to approximately 110-115 degrees. Whisk into yeast mixture and set aside to proof.

 

Meanwhile in small bowl whisk together potato starch, brown rice flour, tapioca starch, almond flour, baking soda, xanthan gum, baking powder, and ½ teaspoon salt.  Once yeast is proofed add in egg, oil, and ½ teaspoon vanilla. Mix for a moment and then slowly add in the flour mixture. Turn the mixer up to medium-high and beat for 1½ minutes - beating long enough is essential, GF flours are "thirsty," the dough will thicken & lose it's stickiness as you beat it.

 

Roll out the dough: this is a sticky dough that you'll want to roll out to approximately a 13" x 10" rectangle. I placed tapioca starch on a pastry cloth but you can also use plastic wrap.  Place dough in the center and cover with a bit more tapioca starch (and another sheet of plastic wrap if using). Roll out to the needed size and then carefully peel off the top layer of plastic wrap.  Using a knife or spatula gently spread the ⅓ cup softened butter over the dough evenly leaving ½" space around the edges. 

 

FILLING:

In a small bowl combine brown sugar & cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly over dough.  To roll your dough: start on one of the shorter sides and gently begin rolling your dough into a log form. Use the pastry cloth (or plastic wrap) to help you "lift and roll" the dough as you go along. Try to make it a nice tight roll, however do not try to unroll it and re-do it. You'll end up with a sticky mess.

 

Sprinkle lightly with tapioca starch again. Dip a sharp knife into tapioca starch then cut the rolls into desired number or size pieces.  Place the rolls, cut side down, in the prepared pie plate*. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel, place in a warm spot, and let them rise for 15 minutes.  Bake 22-27 minutes until tops are golden brown. 

 

ICING: (Instructions for the cream cheese version are here)

 

Meanwhile, in mixing bowl, beat 3 tablespoons softened butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar until smooth. Beat in vanilla and a dash of salt.  Drizzle over the tops of cinnamon rolls as soon as they come out of the oven.  Enjoy!

 

Cooking by Letter - Ooh-La-La Oven Pancakes (Gluten Free!)

It's been a while since I've done a post about food much less a cooking by letter post.  Well, I have LOTS of posts to get ready for you.  I'll try to get them going soon.  Back in January, we started doing gluten free again (and we're still doing).  So, when K's "O" recipe was for "Ooh-La-La Oven Pancakes",

I knew I'd have to make it gluten free.  (ON a side note, the title of this recipe made me think of "Fancy Nancy!")  I did it the easiest way possible - using a gluten free flour mix.  Thankfully, I've been getting better at modifying recipes.  This recipe didn't make as much as I'd have liked it to make but it was good and David took the leftovers to work for "second breakfast" - he's Frodo in his dream life I guess.  :-)

As always, K had a great time helping out.  Especially when I let her put chocolate chips on top.  Happy girl!

Ooh-La-La Oven Pancakes
1 cup gluten free flour (a mix or white rice flour)
1 Tablespoon sugar (or splenda)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk (I used buttermilk)
3 Tablespoons butter, melted (could use oil if you wanted to)
chocolate chips for topping

Preheat the oven to 375.  In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt...gently!  We don't want flour flying everywhere.  In a separate bowl, beat together egg and milk.  Then stir in the melted butter and stir together.  Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture - stir until it is JUST mixed.

Grease an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray.  Pour the mixture into the pan.  Sprinkle with those chocolate chips...and let your helper eat 1 or 2 that "fall" on the counter. Place the pan into the preheated oven (this is an ADULT step!) and bake for 25 minutes.  Remove from oven when done and allow to cool  until warm. (Another ADULT step!).  Then....ENJOY! (KIDS ESPECIALLY!)

Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Bread

So, like I said, I made a non-gluten free recipe for Sunday School, too.  It was a pumpkin bread that I had wanted to try for a long time.  Who says you can't make pumpkin bread in January?

It was SO good.  Of course, I am a bit partial to snickerdoodle AND crumb toppings.  Guess I made this one a little for me.  I shared it with my friend who had just had her baby and with work.  Despite making two loaves, it disappears quickly.  Try it out!

Vegan Snickerdoodle Pumpkin Bread from Bakeaholic Mama
2 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbs cinnamon
15 oz fresh pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey (To make it vegan substitute maple syrup)
1/3 cup water

FOR THE TOPPING:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs cinnamon
2 tbs vegetable oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 and prepare 2 loaf pans. 

In a large bowl mix flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon. In a separate bowl mix pumpkin, oil, honey, and water together. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir to combine.  Pour batter evenly into prepared pans.

In a small bowl using a fork mix all of your topping ingredients together until slightly crumbly. Sprinkle over the tops of each loaf.

Place the filled pans in the oven and bake for 1- 1 hour 15 minutes or until a tooth pick is inserted and comes out clean.  Allow loaves to rest for 20 minutes before removing from pans. Enjoy!

Monkey Business

Our Sunday School class has breakfast every week.  Since David started eating gluten free, he hasn't really been able to eat (almost) anything on Sundays in class.  So, when it was our turn to bring something, I made sure to bring something he could have.  I asked if he wanted cinnamon rolls or monkey bread.  I don't think he ever answered, so I just picked monkey bread.

I ended up making a non-gluten free recipe as well but, oddly enough, even AFTER being told it was gluten free, the monkey bread was almost gone at the end of Sunday School!  I'd call that a success.  It definitely was better heated up.  David enjoyed taking it to work the next week.

Gluten Free Monkey Bread from Lynn's Kitchen
2 tablespoons active dry yeast
2 cups warm water (about 110 degrees)
1/3 cup oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons xanthan gum
1 1/4 cups white rice flour
1 cup brown rice flour
3/4 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca starch
Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk

In the bowl of a mixer, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar and let sit for about 5 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients, adding the xanthan gum last. . Mix using the dough hook of an electric mixer.
Mix for about 5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl a few times. Continue to mix for about 5 minutes.

Prepare a bundt pan with cooking spray.  Mix the topping ingredients together.  Using a cookie scoop, scoop rounded balls of dough into the topping and coat.  Put the coated balls into the prepared pan.  Cover dough loosely with a kitchen towel and let rise for about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Place pan into oven and bake for 18-20 minutes or until done. Combine glaze ingredients until smooth and drizzle half of the glaze over hot monkey bread. Let cool for 30 minutes or so and drizzle remaining glaze on top. Serve and enjoy!

Mystery Muffins - Cooking by Letter

We've fallen behind on the Cooking by Letter. I don't know if we've done anything recently.  The last one we did was "M."  The topic that day was "Mystery Muffins."

K had a lot of fun doing it and even made some with Allie when she was visiting them.  We used blueberries, pumpkin kisses,

chocolate chips, and peanut butter. 

The blueberries were my favorite and chocolate chips David's.

The peanut butter didn't work so well.  Not sure why. 

Basically, you just make a basic muffin and "hide" whatever filling you want in the middle. Tada!

Mystery Muffins
5 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
Chosen "Mystery" ingredients

Preheat oven to 350.
1. In a large bowl, blend the butter, sugar, and egg.
2. Stir together dry ingredients in a small bowl.
3. Add flour to butter mixture in stages, alternating with the milk.  (We did flour, milk, flour, milk, flour)
4. Mix batter until well combined.
5. Line muffin tin with paper muffin cups.  Then fill the cups halfway with batter.  Add a teaspoon of your mystery ingredient then cover with more batter.  Do not fill more than 2/3 full.
*6. Place tin in oven and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.
7. Enjoy!
*Adult step

Just Like Starbucks?

On New Years' Eve, I had a full clinic scheduled.  I decided that since my nurses had to come because of that I'd make something fun.  I found a recipe for cinnamon scones that were supposed to be like Starbucks.  Admittedly, I have never had one of these scones so I can't really compare.  These were pretty good but dried out quickly.  Maybe that's just scones?

Starbucks' Cinnamon Chip Scones from On Your Plate
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick of butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup cinnamon chips
1/2-3/4 buttermilk (or skim milk)
for glaze: 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon water
sift together the dry ingredients and work the butter in until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Add in the chips and toss together. Slowly add the milk until the dough just comes together. Roll the dough out into a square that is approximately 1 inch thick. Cut into triangles and brush with egg wash. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Let scones cool completely and then drizzle with glaze.

Beautiful Bread

This past weekend, we went to my parents' house to pick up K...and to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday!  Mama threw a surprise party and invited all his siblings and his cousin who shares the same birthday.  It was such fun.  But I knew that I'd need to do some cooking in order for David to have some similar things to eat.  Mama was planning on having cinnamon rolls Sunday morning, so I decided to take this month's Daring Baker's Challenge in a gluten free version for David.  Beauty surrounded the Daring Bakers this month as our host, Sawsan, of chef in disguise, challenged us to make beautiful, filled breads. Who knew breads could look as great as they taste?


I knew that this might really be a challenge to do with a gluten free dough since the gluten in what gives dough it's stretch.  Unfortunately, I was right!  As soon as I went to flip the dough through the center slit, it broke...every time.  I did get one triangle to look like it should.  Ha!

As far as taste, once it was heated again, it tasted pretty good.  Several of my family members tasted it and said it was pretty good.  David enjoyed it and has taken it some to work this week.  The biggest change I made to the recipe was (obviously) to change the flour to gluten free (I used an all purpose gluten free mix) and to add a little extra liquid as the gluten free flours tend to require more.

Cinnamon Sweet Bread
Dough:
1/4 cup (60 ml) warm water + about 1/2 cup water
3/4 cup (180 ml) warm milk
1 large egg
1/4 cup (60 ml) (60 gm) (2 oz) butter, softened
1/4 cup (60 ml) (50 gm) (1-3/4 oz) white sugar
1/2 teaspoon (3 gm) salt
3-1/4 cups gluten free (all-purpose) flour, approximately
2 teaspoons (10 ml) (8 gm) dry yeast

Filling:

1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) (1/4 cup) (60 ml) (60 gm) (2 oz) butter
4 tablespoons (60 ml) (25 gm) (1 oz) cinnamon
1/2 cup (120 ml) (100 gm) (3-1/2 oz) sugar

For drizzling: 

glaze made with powdered sugar and water

In a bowl whisk the egg with milk, water, sugar, butter and yeast. Set aside
 
In another bowl sift the flour with the salt.  Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and knead until you get a smooth dough.

  Place the dough in a bowl you have brushed with some oil and cover it with a wet cloth and leave it in a warm place to double.  (If you are tight on time you can heat your oven to 390°F/200°C then turn it off and place your dough in a glass bowl and place it in the warm oven with the wet cloth covering the bowl)
 
After it has risen, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide the dough into 4 parts.  Roll each part into a circle at least 20 cm (8 inch) in diameter.  I used a wooden rolling pin.  Brush the first layer with butter then sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.  Place the second layer on the first layer repeat the brushing and sprinkling and then do the same with the third layer. Top with the fourth layer, this time only brush it with butter.

 Using a knife make cuts that divide the dough circles into 8 triangles.  Make cuts that go 2/3 of the way in the middle of each triangle. The cuts should not reach the base of the triangle nor the tip as you can see in the picture  Take the tip of each triangle and insert it into the cut you made and pull it from the underside.  Arrange the triangles on your baking sheet.  Pinch the two angles at the base of the triangle together.

  Allow to rest for 15 minutes during which you would heat your oven to very hot 500°F/240°C/gas mark 9 (rack in the middle).  Bake for 5 minutes on very hot 460°F/240°C/gas mark 9, then lower the temperature to moderately hot 390°F/200°C/gas mark 6 and bake for 15-20 more minutes. When golden, remove and allow to cool.  Meanwhile, make your glaze.  After it has cooled (or better just before serving) drizzle the glaze on top.  Enjoy!

Gluten Free Pancakes and Cornbread

Back in November, we tried gluten free for a while (and may be making a return soon).  I made a breakfast pie that David really liked.  I also did gluten free pancakes, just replacing the flour with rice flour (and maybe some potato starch). 

It turned out fine taste-wise.  I noticed a big difference in the fluffiness but David didn't.  He says I'm a pancake snob.  Ha!  Maybe I am. 

We also used cornbread some in place of bread.  David said it was okay.  I think it needed a little more flavor but it was pretty good.  Try it out for a fairly healthy option this new year.

Spinach Cornbread from Foods for the Soul

1 c spinach

1 c + 2 tbsp cornmeal

1 tbsp sweet rice flour (or all-purpose)

¾ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1 egg white, lightly beaten

1 tbsp butter, melted and cooled

2 tbsp plain nonfat Greek yogurt

½ c nonfat milk (or almond milk)

1½ tsp agave (or honey)

 

Preheat the oven to 400°F, and place a cast iron pan into the oven.  Gather the spinach into a long tight roll on a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, slice the roll vertically into ¼”-thick ribbons, as if cutting slices of a jelly roll cake. (This is called “chiffonading.”) Turn the cutting board 90°, and repeat, this time cutting perpendicular to the thin ribbons.

 

Lightly coat a large pan with nonstick cooking spray, and cook the spinach over medium-low heat for 1-2 minutes, or until wilted and dark green. Remove from the pan and set aside.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, rice flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg white, butter, yogurt, milk, and agave. Add in the cornmeal mixture, stirring just until moist. Mix in the spinach.  Place the batter into prepared cornbread pan and bake at 400°F for 21-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Immediately flip onto cooling rack.  Enjoy!